I just heard this morning that in conjuction with PEPCO undergoing deregulation (they are the electric utility for Washington D.C. and MD), they want to get out of the generation business, and only handle distribution of electricity.

WHAT?! N O W ! ?

I had assumed that since Montgomery County, MD had been identified as the #1 county for Y2K readiness in the US, that electricity would have been considered. Is PEPCO concerned about their ability to generate electricity, or is this a simple business decision which will be implemented a few years from now after things settle down?

-- Anonymous, February 04, 1999

Answers

Anonymous99 could you tell me how Montgomery County had been identified as the #1 county for Y2K readiness in the US. Is there any documentation that indicates this fact and where can I find it.

If this is true is it safe to say that a Montgomery County resident is in a good position to withstand any impact from the Y2K bug?

Any info you would be willing to provide would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

-- Anonymous, February 04, 1999

I do not know how Montgomery County got promoted to #1, but some significant success with their early testing was reported in the Post on December 22. The Post link has now been removed, but you can read a summary at the Gary North site at:

http://www.garynorth.com/y2k/detail/_.cfm/3377

Only a small number of the county's systems were tested, but even gary north was impressed.

But just because the county government is compliant deosn't mean that you are home free. There's lots of other things to fear, including this Pepco thing. Pepco wants to complete the deal by mid 2000.

In case you didn't know, Momtgomery county has a web site. I do not know the address, but you can easily find it by searching "steve davis" on ony of the search engines.

-- Anonymous, February 04, 1999

I saw the comment that Montgomery Co. was the #1 US county for Y2K preparedness in the Washington Post at one point (not so hard to read if you hold your nose...), but wouldn't know where to look for a link.

Rep. Constance Morrella (R) represents Montgomery County. She is extremly interested in Y2K. Maybe related.

-- Anonymous, February 05, 1999

To dave and Anonymous99'

Thank you both for your replies. I have already discovered the Montgomery County Y2K website and also been to the PEPCO's Y2K website. This month we also received our usual little newsletter with our bill. This month it gave us PEPCO's Year 2000 Readiness Disclosure. BLAH! BLAH! BLAH! BLAH! BLAH!.

QUOTE:

At Pepco, we have been working on the Y2K computer problem since 1995, (I guess that's reassuring) and the process is on schedule. We expect to be Y2K ready by June 30, 1999, spending about $14 million on the effort. Our readiness strategy is to:

-Identify and assess all operations and systems that might be affected

-Correct the problems in an organized and efficient manner

- Test our solutions with sufficient lead time before Jan. 1, 2000, to allow any necessary adjustments

- Develop contingency plans to resolve problems quickly if they do occur.

While we can make no guarantees that there will be no interruptions in service as the Year 2000 arrives, we believe we are taking the right steps to prepare for Y2K.

QUOTE.

Their website says the same thing.

Doesn't really enlighten me very much as to what really is going on.

Thanks again.

-- Anonymous, February 05, 1999

Anonymous99, for months PEPCO has been trying through legal channels to arrange recovery of what they term "stranded costs" because of the utility deregulation. To read about a proposed partial settlement of a case before the Maryland PUC, go to:

http://www.pepco.com/divest.htm

PEPCO will divest its generating assests through an auction, and the sale is expected to close prior to July 1, 2000. It would appear that this plan to recover costs has been ongoing for quite awhile, and is solely related to competitive economic health, not Y2K, since the proposed sale will occur after the rollover, pending permission from various agencies.

-- Anonymous, February 05, 1999